…and I’m proudly angry at the world, and Russia’s laws.
To be honest, it was an exciting announcement day for The Sims 4 to me. A bit more exciting than usual after seeing that, for the first time in forever, The Sims Team is including a Lesbian couple for the main cover of a Sims Pack.
This type of LGBTQ+ representation just wasn’t present there in The Sims Franchise, at least in the beginnings of the game. In the first waves of The Sims releases all there ever was the codable possibility of having same-sex relationships in the game. Having them publicly put on display? Wasn’t a thing. Not really because EA and Maxis didn’t support the LGBTQ+ community (Will Wright was all for gay rights since day 1, might I say!). However, there was always a question which amount of backlash The Sims Team would get for publicly showing support for the community.
You could see some first hints at LGBTQ+ households in some of The Sims 3 Worlds, however they wouldn’t be added in until the game’s ending cycle. The real story begins with The Sims 4, where more and more proper LGBTQ+ representation is shown.
I’ve been doing a deep dive research and writing for an upcoming article series regarding LGBTQ+ representation in Video Games and why is it so important for our community. However, the story I was developing was abruptly stopped by a surprising cover reveal of the upcoming The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories Game Pack.
LGBTQ+ characters on a Pack Cover for The Sims 4? My guess that this isn’t the first time EA has done this for The Sims. The first time it happened was very subtle. The Sims 4’s Base Game cover refresh has teasingly shown affection between two female characters. Still, some might say that they were just roomates…
Another attempt at LGBTQ+ representation was done through the cover Box Art of The Sims 4 Realm of Magic Game Pack. Morgyn Ember, the main character in the center of the Box Art is rumored to be a non-binary character. Although they have been set as a Male Sim through The Sims 4’s CAS settings, the character has a feminine frame applied in the Gender Customization Options.
We’re crossing our fingers here that Morgyn gets an accurate update with the upcoming Customizable Pronouns feature!
However, there is another, last rumored LGBTQ+ representation of characters in a Game Pack. Those are the background male Sims in the cover of The Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator Game Pack. They aren’t displaying any affection nor love in the cover, but it’s rumored that Patina, the home decorator, has done her magic for the lovely couple.
All of the examples you’ve seen above are just hints at LGBTQ+ representation. Nothing shown fully confirms that they are LGBTQ+ Sims. Although that wouldn’t be so important to the majority of people who are used to cis straight representation in covers, having Queer characters on the cover means a lot to the vast majority of LGBTQ+ players who play the game, including myself.
That’s why I was so happy to see that the first cover for a Sims 4 Pack has featured love for what it is. Of course, that love is still illegal in many parts of the world – including Russia where The Sims 4 is localized and sold.
Before digging into the cover of My Wedding Stories and why it might be so shocking for Russia, we have to go back to 2014 when The Sims 4 Base Game was first released.
Due to The Sims Franchise’s general nature of allowing any two consenting characters to fall in love, The Sims 4 was no different. Unfortunately Russia had a problem with consensual love, making The Sims 4, a T for Teen game, rated as an 18+ game. You heard that right – two characters kissing is rated the same as blood, violence and gore displayed in many franchises (like Grand Theft Auto).
18+ rating (of The Sims 4) has been assigned in accordance with the law number 436-FZ ‘On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development.
Gita Jackson from VICE further explained how serious the “Gay Propaganda” law is, and that the latest decision from EA is nothing to joke about.
The legislation, formally titled the law “aimed at protecting children from information promoting the denial of traditional family values,” bans the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors”—a reference universally understood to mean a ban on providing children access to information about LGBT people’s lives. The ban includes, but is not limited to, information provided via the press, television, radio, and the internet.
It was no surprise for me that there would be some sort of reaction and modification from EA Russia in regards of the Game Pack cover. After all – two consenting female characters getting married is the root of all evil in this world and must be punished.
After the pack’s announcement two days ago I noticed something – The Sims Russia stopped posting as everyone else around the world celebrated love. There was something off.
First of all, TheSims.com in Russia didn’t even post about the pack’s existence at all – they only focused on the upcoming Kits.
The Sims Russia’s main social platform on VK also completely ignored the announcement of the pack:
I reached out to EA two days ago to find out what’s going on with the pack and what are their plans to rollout the game in Russia – if they had any plans at all that is.
Early this morning they said the following:
Imagining the stories our players will tell with our packs is at the heart of everything we create. For “My Wedding Stories,” we were excited to introduce you to Dom and Cam. Their love story reflects the lived experiences of so many members of our community and team. As we moved through our development and brand storytelling process, we became aware that the way we wanted to tell Cam and Dom’s story would not be something we could freely share around the world.
The ability to tell stories – any story – is at the core of what we do at The Sims. Holding back Cam and Dom’s story meant compromising the values we live by.
We are committed to the freedom to be who you are, to love who you love and tell the stories you want to tell.
We are steadfast in upholding that commitment by shining a light on and celebrating stories like Dom and Cam’s, so we have made the decision to forgo the release of “My Wedding Stories” where our storytelling would be subject to changes because of federal laws.
Regrettably, this means that members of The Sims community in Russia will not be able to purchase this game pack.
This decision is a double edged sword.
On one hand, The Sims Russian community could’ve had an official release of the Game Pack with a different cover art. A cover art that features legal, natural, family-valued love in the eyes of traditional Russia. All while censoring LGBTQ+ representation to the people that need it the most in Russia where, in some parts, just being LGBTQ+ can get you in a lot of trouble.
On the other hand the game now won’t be sold in Russia at all, resorting many players to illegaly download a Game Pack in a country where it’s illegal to be who you are. Ain’t that the irony…
I stand with the Sims community in Russia and I hope EA finds another way of delivering this pack to their player base.
ARTICLE UPDATE: It seems the Main Menu section of The Sims 4 Game in Russia just contradicted itself completely. “Say Yes to Love” said The Sims 4 in Russia…
The Sims are you serious? This is an advertisement for a game package that is banned in our country in the Russian version of the game? This is strong!#weddingforrussia pic.twitter.com/zEmQ41Ufh9
— HoboGivili (@HoboGivili) February 11, 2022
This story is still being developed and will continue throughout the rest of the coming days through several articles. As an LGBTQ+ person living in the Balkan area of Europe where we still don’t have basic rights to be our queer selves and marry who we want I’m still processing this information. Sure, this is just a video game and a decision like this doesn’t mean a lot to you – but as someone who’s been playing The Sims in means of escapism through the harsh realities of the real world where our rights are stripped I’m everything but surprised. This is an everyday thing for us.
I’m still trying to gather every piece of information correctly here so you might see some updates to the article here and there. However, just a friendly reminder to all the homophobes and transphobes who might be reading this article:
This website is founded by a gay person. You are not welcome here, nor will you ever be.
You know nothing about Russia and believe false propaganda. Just a friendly reminder to all the Russophobes – turn on critical thinking. The law prohibits propaganda to children under 18 and only. And this is the law of a country where traditional values are strong for various reasons, just accept it. But here no one persecutes (as in Poland or Asia) or kills LGBT people. Lord, what are you talking about. Nobody is stopping you from being who you are. In fact, it doesn’t matter to anyone who you sleep with, this is your own business and this is not the main thing in a person. So it’s EA’s choice, nothing more. Just a policy of inciting hatred towards the Russians. And you are falling for it. Sick of it.
As a person that lives in Poland I have to disagree. LGBTQ people ARE stopped from being who they are. On a parade’s for LGBTQ people they are listening to harmful words spreading towards them coming from intolerant others. Also a lot of that type of parade’s end’s for people from LGBTQ community really bad – and hurt – both physically and emotionally. So please stop lecturing other people about things that, you too, have no idea about.
Well, everyone can suffer in parades, the authorities don’t like any parades in any country… I know that LGBT people can suffer more, but I was talking about everyday life.
This Game pack will not be released in Poland too?
@oli@disqus_05Wckrhtdm:disqus In the Netherlands we have the gay parade in Amsterdam and the authorities here and lot of people enjoy it, is is really a nice parade and lots of fun and crazy haha it is almost like a carnaval! so that authorities don’t like any parades in any country is not true, we have a lot of parades in the Netherlands.. it is really good here and fun
No, we’re Lucky enough. The pack will be released, but after hearing that it’s banned I Russia i was scared for a while
Good. You should be stopped.
What? In Poland you hear all the time in tv that lgbt people are the worst thing on earth destroying the country etc. we are made up to be somehow some sort villains, disease, everyone wants us to stop existing.
I’m not sure whether I should care or not. I’m leaning towards not…
If you don’t care about the treatment of lgbt people in another country then consider yourself lucky that your not in a position where you HAVE to care about that kind or stuff when it’s your lived experience as someone in our community. Be thankful it doesn’t affect you
ah, like sayin one should starve “because people in Africa…”
Except that wasn’t their point at all.
Well i saw some not really popular videos what’s happening in russia with lgbt people and what i know about russian politics its just not really tolerant country :))) (+have some russian gay friends so i know)
i had tears reading this… it is 2022.. it is so unfair to everyone in Russia… and the whole world where in soms countries being you or who you wanna be or who you love and wanna be with is not accepted or even illegal 🙁
honestly shout out to ea for doing this. i was fully expecting them to straightwash but this is amazing. they know they will lose money by doing this and they dont care
It’s completely EA’s decision. The Sims 4 rated 18+ in Russia, this law apply only on underaged people.
They made the right decision! It’s sad for the russian players but they’re making a huge statement.
What is the okay part of this decision???
I’m really sorry to read this. I’m hetero but I think that it’s 2022 and everyone has the right to love freely. I really don’t understand all that hate towards diversity. My children are more open minded than so many adults that consider themselves so smart and they think that two women or two men can marry without me ever saying anything. I hope and I think things will change in the future anyway…little progress is already happening.
Sorry for my bad english, I’m from Italy.
Your English is very good!
Why the heck are all of y’all shocked Russia did this? Y’all know Russia doesn’t like us, neither does china. Stay away from those parts of the world.
Where are you getting the impression that anyone is surprised that the Russian authorities (as distinct from the Russian people) are homophobic?
Wonder if they’re going to release this game in China and other anti-lgb countries? If so that would be discrimination against Russia.
As Russian I’m not agree with both sides. It’s very sad to read on Twitter a lot of negative messages about Russians, generated by EA’s demonstrativeness. Of course, a lot of Russians support LGBT people, but, frankly, most of us are already tired of the active emphasis on this topic in the culture, as if it were the only global problem. I like two girls from the trailer, I’m bisexual, but for me this whole situation for me is like a circus.
Unfortunately it’s bringing both the homophobes and the Russophobes out of the woodwork. :/
Say what you will about EA, but props to them for sticking to their values. Great article too!
This is just sad. As a Russian player for 15 years already, I’m really sad that now I can’t get the pack everyone was so excited about! I really appreciate what they are trying to do and support, but it’s just impossible to experience the same joy of weddings and celebrations without pirating my favourite game (which is not only unethical, but also illegal). All of these comments like “yay, they did the right thing, shout-out to EA” are sad, as well as comments like “i hate the sims now, EA and developers are bad”. The whole situation is sad and i just hope that we’ll be able to play the game we all love in same way as people around the world.
I’m sorry for all that big rant, but I’m really upset and angry at this situation 🙁
It sucks, and I’m sorry y’all are stuck in this position. 🙁
I don’t live in Russia but I can understand why it sucks
On the one hand, I’m happy they are standing their ground on this; but on the other, I hope that the ways that Russians that want to play this pack won’t just be limited to pirating it. I have nothing against piracy but I’m hoping that codes for the pack stay global and that VPNs can work.
As a gay person I appreciate EA’s intentions, I really do, but I feel like this decision punishes the Russian community unfairly for laws they have no say in. If they changed the cover art from a gay couple to a straight couple that would really suck, but perhaps they could release a simpler alternate cover with just a wedding arch and a table with a cake or something? I don’t know, I just feel like Russian simmers shouldn’t have to be left out, even if I’m horrified by their country’s laws…
Yeah, but they’d get backlash for caving to the pressure, so there’s no perfect option. :/ It’s lousy.
It really is a messy situation. I hate the way it’s stirred up fresh waves hatred against both Russians as a whole and the LGBT+ community. 🙁
On the day of the release can we flood the gallery with gay Russian couples please?
I apologize for feeding the troll, btw. Won’t happen again.
Thank you for making a place where we can all feel secure. ❤
I believe the response everyone had for internet censorship was… “Well, they’re a private company, they can do what they want.” In this case, a different country.
I am sorry, I know this should not be funny but I got to say, I laughed at this because of the absurdity of this. I am a straight person and attends the church, but even I think the idea that depicting of gay couples in a media (whether it be television, motion picture, video game, et cetera) performing an act of love would somehow corrupt otherwise straight people into becoming homosexuals is ridiculous, and I am sure this is unsupported by the psychological research. Frankly, I think this whole so-called “gay propaganda” thing is, to use Lord Palmerston’s words, a pure unadulterated nonsense.
I just don’t buy this whole thing about depiction of homosexual love corrupting the otherwise straight people. If that was true, it should also be true for depiction of straight love, which are by far the most widespread, corrupting the otherwise homosexual people but they’re still around in substantial numbers, and I suspect the same was true before LGBTQ became widely open in public. Why would the alleged corruption only happen to straight people? It’s illogical. Again, as I said, it is a pure, unadulterated nonsense.
Wow comments are a mess. Big love to all LGBTQ+
This is absolutely horrendous. It disgusts me that there’s still places where just being yourself is illegal.
I feel so bad for the people who don’t get to experience this game pack because of the bigots out there. Everyone deserves to be able to be open about who they are and love who they love. This kind of censoring only makes the problem worse.
As an Russian who is a part of LGBT, this just makes me sad. I waited for improved weddings for SO long. Not only we are losing LGBT representation, we are also losing interesting game mechanic. I guess I just gotta stick to the mods. Sorry if my grammar is bad at times by the way, I’m just really-really upset.
I’m so sorry. :/
I am a Russian bisexual woman & honestly, I’m so tired of this nonsense. Of our laws, of course, in the first place. EA could’ve released the pack for the players though, since originally the company is located in States. They could’ve resisted. They decided not to. It’s their choice & I’m not saying anything, but how else does EA expect players to get the pack if it won’t be available for purchase in Russia? 🙂
P.S.: Saying so much hateful comments towards Russia, wow. Some of you are a hateful & racist mess.
Unfortunately if they’d changed the art in order to comply, the rest of the world would have called them cowardly and homophobic, so either way they catch flak. Not surprising they went with the better PR option, but it sure sucks for you guys. 🙁
They didn’t have to change anything, the could’ve vent with how it is & face the consequences. I doubt they’d actually lose much (or anything) since they’re located in USA & earn i can’t even imagine how much money since all these dlcs are overpriced af.
I am seeing that now, and yeah, that puts a much different face on it. :S UGH.
I actually like this situation. It was to be expected that Russia would ban the add-on, I’m not surprised. What I like about it is that steps like this might inspire other publishers to feature more LGBTQ+ content as well when they realize it might not even be as bad to get banned in Russia.
Maybe if enough gamers are annoyed the Russian government will rethink the laws.
Bit of criticism with the article; as far as I know from my Russian friends it’s not technically “illegal to be LGBTQ” in Russia, unlike in some other countries. They do allow it as long as it’s not accessible to children, hence why that one article might’ve been featured and translated in-game since the game is 18+. While I wish Russia would be more open, I feel like they’re already doing at least okay. It can be seen as a valid concern that too much LGBTQ+ in media might actually influence children. Judging by that POV and the fact how many of Russia’s inhabitants are homophobic anyway, it feels to me as if they’re not doing as bad and are not as much of a homophobic dictatorship as this article makes it sound.
Still, lots of catching up to do from Russia and even our own countries. It’s about time we see a little bit more
LGBTQ representation in video game protagonists
Actually, even in the USSR people where less racists for some moments than in USA (look, for example, African story Soviet Cartoon, 1963 year, in USSR people treated with respect African peoples). Yes older generation and gov DO HAVE problems with LGBTQ+. But everything will come with time. It’s not a reasom to block the content in my country. EA-games are not tolerant. RU-community loved Sims for it’s freedom. And they took it from us.
Absolutely agree! I have some russian friends and they are some of the kindest, most open people I know off. I wish the government would open up more but it might still take quite a while until that happens. I hope that with a change of the president we can see a more open, tolerant and modern Russia, hopefully still in our lifetimes.
Actually, even in the USSR people where less racists for some moments than in USA (look, for example, African story Soviet Cartoon, 1963 year, in USSR people treated with respect African peoples). Yes older generation and gov DO HAVE problems with LGBTQ+. But everything will come with time. It’s not a reasom to block the content in my country. EA-games are not tolerant. RU-community loved Sims for it’s freedom. And they took it from us.
Just check on twitter @SimplyHao. Young generation (1990+) is more flexible, a lot of us don’t hate LGBTQ+. I have L and BI friends. EA are racists. They told different causes cancellation of DLC for Russia and for the whole world.
Good.
But they’re selling the Carnaval and Men’s clothing kits? Don’t those covers have guys in feminine clothing? Seems like Russian gov. would be against that too.
Well, let’s stop pretending that the rating is 18+ because of falling in love and kissing. It is because of woo-hoo options.
Jovan,
Do you know if Russian Simmers will be able to download and play My Wedding Stories if they are gifted code for the pack?
Shame on the Russian government. I hope this will help start new discussions that will eventually lead to change there. I predict more Russian players will begin to use VPNs to get around location tracking in order to download the pack.
But did you forget Brent & Brant Hecking from Cats and Dogs? Their relationship and wedding were featured in the trailer in 2017! Did Russia miss it? I surely didn’t! Or was the trailer modified for Russia so they didn’t know there was a gay couple in the pack? If so, I heard nothing about it. There is also an elderly gay townie couple in Cottage Living, and Knox Greenburg in Eco Lifestyle has two moms. There are a couple of non-binary townies in Island Living as well.
I started with Sims 1 – I remember how THRILLED – I was to have a boyfriend playing as a male character. Gay stuff was there from version 1.
No disrespect to ppl in Russia (just wanted to point that out), but f- the Russian government. To me (I have gay experience) this feels bad that a country can say that
I have seen a video on YT about “miitopia” that got 18+ in Russia cause you can fall on the same gender
(video by Thomas game docs)
Also the text: “for the reason to protect children” it isn’t some kind of virus
Anyway, i hope if you live in Russia that you can still get the pack, in a legal or illegal way
EA has definitely screwed up by not answering people’s questions, but this may be why the made the choice they did. The day before EA announced it wouldn’t be releasing the pack in Russia, the Russian Justice Ministry filed a lawsuit against the Russian LBTQ Network claiming it violated Russia’s gay propaganda laws. The lawsuit seeks to expand the scope of the propaganda laws and would penalize conduct that the government previously did not penalize. EA may have decided to delay the pack’s release to see what happens with this lawsuit. Because this a new case involving the law, it would explain why previous packs just needed the 18+ sticker. It would also explain why EA initially seemed to be releasing the pack in Russia. I just wanted to flag this for people who had questions. EA should still offer an explanation and provide clarity on this issue, I just think this is likely why their legal team made a last minute decision not to release the pack. https://www.losangelesblade.com/2022/02/09/russias-justice-ministry-files-lawsuit-seeks-to-close-lgbtq-rights-group/?amp=1